Vehicle Insurance – Better Safe Than Sorry

I’m sure none of you are guilty of this, but amazingly some people take the risk of driving without insurance. I don’t know about other areas, but here in BC that is illegal…and a pretty dumb risk regardless where you live.

You may be the best driver, but with lots of bad drivers out there, some accidents are unavoidable. Someone else can run a red light. They can swerve into your lane while driving home from the bar. Or maybe they’ll tailgate so close that they can’t stop before rear-ending you. In times like that it doesn’t make much difference how good your driving skills are.

Then there are the times when you might just make an error in judgement yourself. It just takes a single split second decision to end up in a car accident. Most of us have probably driven when tired or with something important on our minds.

Beyond car accidents, something can happen to your vehicle when it is just parked on the side of the street. Car thieves could decide to target your vehicle in search of something to steal or just for a joyride. You could be the victim of a mindless vandal keying cars.

The list of situations that could occur really is endless. The bottom line is that you need protection so that none of these random events put you in a financial bind. Vehicle insurance is that life preserver that prevents you from drowning in those unplanned expenses.

My Experience With Vehicle Insurance

In my 15+ years of driving I’ve actually only been involved in 2 accident insurance claims. I consider that a pretty good driving record.

The first incident occurred in a parking lot. Somehow this guy found it unnecessary to properly check what was behind him before backing out of his parking space. Needless to say he was completely at fault and the insurance company agreed. That experience went very smoothly and the damage was fixed without costing me anything other than some wasted time.

The second incident was unfortunately my fault…well according to the insurance company anyway. You see, here in BC the government has a monopoly on vehicle insurance. So they seem to have a policy of trying to put 100% of the blame on one side whenever possible to limit the number of potential lawsuits or appeals.

With that one I was driving my girlfriend to work and we were running a little late. When a traffic light turned yellow (yes I know it’s called amber, but who actually says that?), I rushed to make the light and turned left. As luck would have it, someone else was rushing to make that light. I don’t know for sure, but I think she may have even got it as it was turning red. Well she ran right into me, totaling my car. Thinking back about it, if I was less honest I probably could’ve avoided taking the full blame by claiming that she had definitely ran the red light.

The really dumb part is that at the time I had 9 years of clean driving on my record. One more clean year and I would’ve qualified for what’s called Road Star. With that I would’ve been entitled to one ‘free’ accident that wouldn’t affect my rates. Instead my rates drastically increased and I have to try to work my way back up to Road Star.

On the bright side, I did have full coverage. So they cut me a check for the replacement value of my Acura Integra. That did clear up the amount still owing on the car loan and provide the down payment on my Mustang.

Obviously that incident was a lot worse dealing with the insurance company. For one it wasn’t just a minor fender bender. Secondly I was on the losing side of the decision which is never a fun experience. I really think the other lady should’ve taken at least 25% blame, but I guess they don’t do things that way.

At least I wasn’t suddenly out the full price of my car. That would’ve been a lot more stressful. As much as I don’t like the insurance company, I am glad there was coverage to help deal with the problem.

Still I am pretty jealous of the people who have a choice of what company they buy their vehicle insurance from. It would be nice to insure your vehicle with whoever you choose. Then you can use tools like this calculator to find the best deal. You aren’t stuck paying whatever one company charges.

How have your experiences with vehicle insurance been? Have you been blamed for any accidents?

Jeremy Biberdorf is the founder of Modest Money. After working many years in the website marketing industry, he decided to take on blogging full time and also get his finances headed in the right direction.

81 Comments

I have been in three accidents in my life and I wasn’t moving in a single one of them. Since none of them were my fault I have had pretty positive experiences, except for the first one.

The first accident I got rear ended by a 2.5 Ton flatbed truck while I was sitting at a stop light. Basically it folded my car in half (I have scary pictures from it). Luckily I walked away with just a minor concussion. In the end the guy did not have insurance, so my company had to pay out (I had full coverage) but then proceeded to drop me. At least I got my money to replace my car, but I had to find new insurance, which really isn’t a huge deal.

That’s pretty dumb that your insurance company dropped you for an accident that wasn’t your fault at all. I guess that’s one advantage of the government run vehicle insurance. They can’t exactly drop anyone like that. Even if the other person had no insurance I think they can’t penalize you.

We’ve had a few incidents where people hit our cars in parking lots without leaving notes. One time was pretty bad, $2,500 in damage. I recently got a bit of hail damage, but I decided it wasn’t worth the three almost invisible dings to go through the hassle. Our rates are pretty low and I’d like to keep them that way.

Wow 3 hit and runs? That really sucks, especially that one that did $2500 in damage. I’d be choked. Some people really don’t have any conscience. I probably wouldn’t bother fixing hail damage either. Here in BC most people would probably just pay cash if they were going to fix something like that just so it wouldn’t affect their insurance rates.

I htink here in the US it’s illegal to drive without insurance, too. And you’re exactly right, even if you’re a GREAT driver (which I’m definitley not), that doesn’t mean that other people aren’t crazy/dumb drivers! You can be the bestest driver the world has ever seen, but if some dumb bunny is tailgating you and rear ends you, well, you’ll need insurance! But I definitely recommend shopping around, as well.

Yeah we need to watch out for drivers like you TB lol. In my mom’s case it wasn’t even another driver that resulted in her worst accident. It was a moose that decided to charge her car from the side of the road. Not much she could do there.

I’ve always had car insurance. My car has been hit over 18 times (with 17 of them being my car parked in a parking lot and me watching horrifically as I leave a store and watch someone hit my car and drive away) and the one time with me being in dead stop traffic and a crazy man (he was literally crazy and that’s what the cops told me). So I’ve always had insurance because others never want to pay!

I recall you mentioning you have a bad history of getting hit in parking lots, but 18 accidents is crazy, especially with how young you are. That’s some really bad luck. If that were me I’d get so paranoid anytime I park my car anywhere.

I had one at-fault accident when I was 19 (basically a parking lot accident – going about 3 mph, I just wasn’t looking around properly) and have been rear-ended twice, also when I was a teenager. I’ve always carried a lot of insurance and have had good experiences.

My husband is trying to convince me to let him drive our currently uninsured (and undriven) car 2 miles on the day we’re moving apartments but I WILL NOT relent. If we can’t get the car added back onto our policy for just that one day, we’ll have it towed to the new place.

Only 2 miles would be awfully tempting but usually you can get coverage for a single day. It’s probably cheaper than getting it towed anyway. I can see why he’d want to avoid the hassles and take the risk though. It is highly unlikely anything bad would happen, but if it did, the consequences would really suck.

My wife was in an accident and the insurance company were quick to pay out – so a good experience for me. In the UK, the police can seize your car and have it crushed if you are driving without insurance… and it happens a lot!

Damn…they would actually crush a car for driving it uninsured?? That is pretty harsh, but I guess it would make people think twice. I would think it would be more profitable for them to resell the car instead though. I know the cops here are always hosting auctions for stuff like that.

I’ve really only been in one accident, right after I turned 16 to boot. It was snowing pretty good and my car skidded as I was turning left and totaled the oncoming car. Other than that I just had a very minor fender bender a few years ago, but we have USAA for insurance and the experience was just fine.
In regards to not having insurance, I agree even the best of drivers need it. As it so happens, my mother in law was hit by three separate drivers (all of the incidents she was not at fault) in the span of 18 months and each time the driver was uninsured. I know it was just a mess for them to get straightened out. One time the driver just took off after nearly totaling my mother in laws car. Just makes you wonder what some people are thinking when they get behind the wheel. 😉

It sounds like lots of people get into accidents with uninsured drivers. They really should be more proactive about that problem. In BC we have to put a sticker on our license plate that shows when the insurance expires. I would think that easy recognition would make drivers much less likely to drive uninsured.

Driving in the snow at a young age often does result in an accident, but usually it’s just your own car ending up in the ditch. So that sucks that you actually totaled a car that way.

I’d be interested to learn about how insurance works with those car sharing programs. It seems that the coverage you get may be out of your hands a bit. You should write a post about car sharing if you haven’t already.

I have my own car AND am a member of a car share. (Zipcar) The cost of insurance AND gas AND all the other car related expenses is rolled into the rental amount. (depending on the car between $9-$20 per HOUR) So for a quick run to the market for me, it’s less than the cost of 2 cab rides.

They have an assortment of vehicles from smarts all the way up to pickup trucks and mini-vans. So if you need to move stuff, you can pick a vehicle that meets your needs. The even have some fun/sporty vehicles too like BMWs for the enthusiasts and Mustangs for the ones who want to get lots of speeding tickets.

Different sized vehicles are parked at different locations however so if you need a pickup truck, you might have to travel a bit to get it.

They have a membership DEPOSIT (that you get back of course when you resign) and a yearly contract. You can pay MORE or less on your contract depending on how much you use the vehicles. If you pay MORE annually then your hourly rates go way down.

For people who need cars 4 times a week or less it’s very economical. (Seeing the cost to insure even crappy cars in downtown Toronto is VERY expensive… I have a 2007 Mazda3 and I pay $250/m with 20+ years of NO claims, NO tickets, NO accidents.)

It’s interesting that you have your own car and use a car sharing program. It would be pretty convenient to have access to a pickup truck or a minivan when you need it. I know there have been lots of things I’ve wanted to buy on craigslist but just had no economical way to pick it up. I wouldn’t need it enough to justify a yearly contract though.

Wow $250/month for insurance with a clean driving record?! I was paying about that much after my accident when I got my expensive car. I didn’t move to downtown Vancouver until later that year though.

I’m lucky that I’ve never had to fill out a car insurance claim (my husband has twice – once he was at fault, another time he was hit by an old lady who fled the scene!), but I still carry it. I’d never dream of not – too risky for my taste.

Knock on wood that you can keep up that streak. My ex was in a hit and run with an old lady. In that case I don’t think she even realized she hit us though. She just drove away as we sat there in shock that she didn’t stop.

I have insurance, but I know some people who don’t. It’s plain irresponsible and stupid to drive without it.

I was recently involved in a low-speed accident, and luckily the lady had insurance, so the claim was processed nice and easily. Getting her insurance to cut a check, though, that’s a whole other story (coming soon 😉 )

That’s lame that an insurance company would drag their feet paying out a claim like that. I always hear about insurance companies not agreeing with each other over claims. Those kinds of situations make me think the 1 company system isn’t quite so bad after all.

We share a similar experience, someone has backed into me in a parking lot! Ever since I purchased a new(ish) vehicle, I made sure to get it fully covered to prevent any fender benders turned nightmare as in the case where my bf’s car was totaled while he was away by a lady who backed into it while in a seizure episode.

I’ve only been in one accident and that was in my high school’s parking lot. The accident wasn’t my fault and as you mentioned, the only thing I lost was my time going to get my car repaired.

It’s really unfortunate that you can’t shop you car insurance rates. That’s insane the government has a monopoly on that. Do they just not allow private insurance companies to offer quotes/policies to citizens?

I’m not sure exactly how they control it, but everyone just has to get their insurance via the government. The private companies just act as brokers, but the pricing is set by the government corporation. The BC government just likes to screw us over because I don’t think all the other provinces have this kind of monopoly.

I’ve been in two major ones, only had liabilities but was lucky it was the other guy’s fault. It’s never a good thing dealing with insurance companies when it’s time for them to do their job, but they’re very fast when taking your money though 🙂

Fun fact: when you don’t have comprehensive collision insurance (because your car is only worth $2500) and your car is involved in an accident out of province, you have to deal with the other insurance company all by yourself. ICBC doesn’t do anything on your behalf. (0% at fault, no one was even in my car when someone hit it.) BUT, make sure that you call ICBC and get an incident number from them even if they say you don’t need one, because when you go to remove the insurance from your totaled car, they will only backdate it if they have an incident number… which they told me I didn’t need when I called them day-of.
(Please disregard the massive run on sentence.)

Well that’s not a very fun fact. I always wondered how that worked if I got in an accident outside of BC. And I’m sure those other insurance companies love taking advantage of the BC drivers. Hopefully I never have to deal with that kind of situation.

I’ve been in one accident where the car had a few dings and I was driving. It wasn’t my car (and I actually didn’t want to be driving it but that’s an entirely different story) but it also wasn’t my fault. It was inclement weather and a semi tried to get in my lane without there being room–not the greatest decision ever made by them. Thankfully no one was hurt but I still have issues driving by semi trucks on bridges now.

Bad weather driving can be pretty dangerous, especially when other drivers get careless. That sucks when those accidents affect your driving confidence long term. I know I’m a lot more wary about late intersection lights, but it’s probably for the best anyway.

I’ve never been at fault in an accident. A friend backed into my parked car once and their insurance paid without any hassle. The problem around me is all the deer. I hit one which took care of the deductible but no hassles in getting the repairs covered. The only issue I’ve had with car insurance is I was paying about double before I learned to shop around. It’s definitely good to have choices and take the time to research them.

Animals on the road can be a major problem. They jump out of nowhere with very little time for you to react. I know I’ve come extremely close to hitting a moose at high speeds and it scared the shit out of me.

I do really wish we had options to shop around for insurance. I know there have been times when I really felt that I was paying more than I really should’ve. Now I even have my deductive maxed out in order to save a bit more money.

I would never drive without car insurance – it’s too risky for you and not fair to other drivers. I’ve seen people get into accidents and, even though it was the other person’s fault, that person didn’t have insurance and therefore couldn’t pay for the repairs. I myself have been in a few accidents (all due to driving in ice and snow) and have had pretty high car insurance rates before I moved to cities that I don’t need to drive in. I’m more than happy to ride public transportation so that’s one less thing I have to worry about.

That’s one way to avoid the whole vehicle insurance mess. I’m glad I live somewhere that gets very little snow & ice. That stuff can be pretty stressful driving on. It’s actually even more dangerous here when we do get snow since almost nobody has winter tires and most people have minimal winter driving experience. So on those days I’m a lot more willing to take public transportation to avoid getting in an accident.

I don’t know if I would like the government controlled insurance or not. Do they raise your rates often? At least we can shop around if one carrier gets too pricey. I think you can also get your license revoked if you hit someone without insurance here. I’ve never tried nor do I wish to!

They do typical government moves of claiming they’re reducing insurance rates but then balancing it out with other charges. I almost forgot the most brutal part about the insurance situation here. Staff of that corporation gets big bonuses based on company performance. So they have strong incentive to screw over customers. It is apparently supposed to be run as a zero profit business, but that just means that the big staff bonuses negate a lot of the profit.

With me being behind the wheel, I have been involved in a total of 8 accidents of varying degrees of fault and severity. The most recent time was the only time that somebody else’s vehicle was totaled. The cost for that came within a couple hundred dollars of my insurance limit! That was probably the scariest part and I didn’t find that out for over a week after the accident.

I’m still waiting for a full post about that incident Ed. You’re fortunate your insurance was barely able to cover it. Would they still cover it up to that limit? Your insurance premiums are bound to be pretty high now with that latest accident added to your previous driving record.

Ever since I moved to Canada I had to learn about driving on Ontario roads and all the rules. Let me tell you this, many many people don’t follow them. When you are new, you follow them because the last thing you want is to mess up your insurance and muck up your vehicle. Coming from a life of roundabouts I understand now why insurance premiums as so expensive here. I won’t tell you what I paid back home but it was nothing like it is here. Mrs.CBB’s insurance company took me on thank goodness.. one company wanted 4k per yr out of me even with my drivers letter from the UK stating I’ve never been in an accident. Now I pay around $84 a month for full coverage with that free accident you speak of. All I know is that without insurance anyone is a fool for getting behind the wheel anywhere. This is a good reminder for all.. Cheers Jeremy. Mr.CBB

Damn, only $84 per month now? I wish mine was so low. I guess I need to build up a better driving record…and maybe downgrade to a cheaper car. That sucks that they didn’t care about your clean driving record in the UK. The roundabout system really is so much better. It’s so pointless to always be sitting at red lights and creating situations where cars are racing to make the light in time.

It is pretty dumb to drive without insurance, since it is illegal here in the US as well. Pretty sure I am more paranoid that someone else will do something stupid and hit me (tho I do have a case of road rage….) so I am very happy to be driving WITH insurance!

My road rage tendencies used to be a lot worse…well maybe it’s still bad, but I don’t have to drive in rush hour traffic these days. I get so irritated by bad drivers and there are so many out there. Too many people are just in a rush and thinking their time is more important than anyone elses. Hmmm I wonder if that includes me with my last accident several years back.

I drive with insurance because it’s the LAW! I’m glad it is, because everyone has accidents sometimes. I’ve been hit by someone without insurance, but thankfully, it was only my light that she damaged, so not very costly for me.

Even though it’s illegal to drive without insurance it sounds like there’s a real problem with uninsured drivers. Here in BC I never hear about someone getting into an accident with anyone that doesn’t have insurance.

Unless I owned a really cheap car I wouldn’t be without full coverage insurance. I had my unoccupied car hit and written off a few years back, needless to say the driver didn’t stick around to give me his insurance details! Had I not have had full coverage I would’ve been a few thousand down because of it.

I was rear ended when I was 4 months pregnant with my second daughter. Thankfully, the baby is was ok. However, I bit the steering wheel and got two front teeth knocked out and other teeth damaged. It was a horrible nightmare and I had to wear fake teeth for almost a year as I got various bone grafts put in and dental implants drilled. The lady that hit me had good insurance so I got expensive dental implants and all porcelain veneers in front. They look like movie star teeth now but it sure was hell to get there!

Glad to hear the baby was ok, but I’m sure you were pretty damn worried about her at the time. The dental work doesn’t sound like much fun, but yeah I guess at least it was all covered by someone else’s insurance. Sounds like it sure wasted a lot of time to get that dental work done.

Even though it stinks to pay for it, you NEED insurance. There’s just too much at stake in case something terrible happens – especially if you get sued or need medical attention. I can’t wrap my head around when people don’t have it. With all the online quotes you can get now, you can talk down your current providers pretty low. All it takes is a few quotes to have a little leverage!

I guess some people just are overconfident about their driving abilities and not taking other drivers into consideration. That or they just like taking stupid risks. Since it’s the kind of decision that can drastically affect other drivers on the road it is extremely selfish.

Car insurance is mus if you have a car, but lots of folks drive without having an insurance. That’s not only reckless but so irresponsible. I’ve been in an accident twice as well. Once due to my fault. I lost my car during the other accident, and the driver at fault had no insurance. It’s never good when you find that the person at fault carries no insurance.

Story after story of drivers getting into accidents with people with no insurance. I should have tried to find some stats about that problem. I guess some of those people without insurance have also had it revoked due to a horrible driving record or problems of driving under the influence. So that probably magnifies the problem with a higher rate of accidents amongst the uninsured.

I’ve been involved in a few accidents, and none of them have been my fault. As such, I didn’t have to go through my own insurance company; rather, I had to go through the insurance company of the at-fault driver.

It’s always been a fairly straightforward experience, where a claims adjuster checked out my vehicle, and then we arranged to have the damage repaired. Luckily I’ve never had any run-ins with uninsured drivers (knock on wood).

I’m not a huge fan of insurance in general just because I know that most insurance companies are out there making a ton of money off of us. But of course I do have insurance through a low cost provider with high deductible and lower limits on coverage.

For those who think they’re great drivers, they can always drop collision(I’m working on an article on this right now actually) since if you’re not at fault, the other person’s insurance will cover you.

I don’t think I would drop collision on my insurance coverage. I think I’m a pretty good driver, but I know I could run into an unfortunate situation where another accident is my fault. A collision accident is just going to create too much damage to risk not having covered. Or sometimes you’re not really at fault by the insurance companies screw you around and manage to stick the blame on you due to some technicality.

We have some of the most affordable auto insurance in the country so I am not complaining. If I am in an accident and get blamed for it I pay a higher premium but to me this is fair. I try to keep a good driving record though. Right now I get a 25% discount every year for keeping accident free.

I did just experience a hit and run though which is a pain. Not my fault though. Just need to take the car to get fixed and pay my deductible.

The hit and runs are pretty annoying. You’re doing absolutely nothing wrong and then you have to waste your time and energy dealing with it. I wish we had cheaper auto insurance over here in BC, but since it’s run by the government fat chance of that happening.

That would make driving a lot more stressful, but I’m glad you never had any negative consequences beyond that. But yeah, it’s just not worth the risk to save some money. Then if anything bad happens, all those savings get washed down the toilet and you could even be in legal trouble.

I only started driving a year ago, I never had to in high school and in university I lived about two minutes from everything. The first time I ever drove on the highway, a lady in a white van didn’t check her blind spot before changing lanes and ran right into my car. The car was totalled and I broke my wrist. The accident was 100% her fault, but the way insurance works in NB is strange.

My own insurance company covered the cost of my accident (car, physio, etc) and the other company is only responsible for my pain and suffering settlement. I have a phobia of driving in high traffic areas, so there are lasting effects, but after well over a year of hounding the other insurance company, I have yet to see any settlement money – very annoying!

That does sound like a strange setup. I wonder why they do things like that. It does really suck that you had that bad an accident early on in your driving. I can see why that would create a lasting phobia. It sounds like it might be time to talk to a lawyer about the situation.

Been in two accidents myself… One being my fault. I have USAA so I know I’m well taken care of. I have many friends that do “ride dirty” and drive without insurance. It’s waaaay more common than you’d think!

It’s amazing how many people drive in the US without insurance so it is always the best protection to have your own.
As Jeremy mentions, YOU could be the best driver in the world but with all the other drivers who aren’t that great also being on the road, chances are that you will have an automobile accident at some point in your life, it’s best to be the one that’s prepared.

Crazy comments from everyone! Since I’m in traffic central (aka LA) that car insurance really helps and is absolutely essential. I’ve had a few accidents when I was younger that was my fault, now its other people hitting me. Here it seems like almost every day something almost happens.

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